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1. It boasts how long it can stay
up. Go to the Command Prompt in the Accessories menu from the All Programs
start button option, and then
type 'systeminfo'.
The computer will produce a lot of useful info, including the uptime. If you want to keep these, type 'systeminfo
> info.txt'. This creates a file called info.txt you can look at later with Notepad. (Professional Edition only).
2. You can delete files immediately,
without having them move to the Recycle Bin first. Go to the Start menu, select
Run... and type 'gpedit.msc'; then select User
Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Windows Explorer
and find the Do not move deleted files to the Recycle Bin setting. Set it.
Poking around in gpedit will reveal a great many
interface and system options, but take care -- some may stop your computer
behaving as you wish. (Professional Edition only).
3. You can lock your XP workstation
with two clicks of the mouse. Create a new shortcut on your desktop using a
right mouse click, and enter 'rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation'
in the location field. Give the shortcut a name you like. That's it -- just
double click on it and your computer will be locked. And if that's not easy
enough, Windows key + L will do the same.
4. XP hides some system software you
might want to remove, such as Windows Messenger, but you can make it show
everything. Using Notepad or Edit, edit the text file /windows/inf/sysoc.inf, search for the word 'hide' and remove it.
You can then go to the Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel, select
Add/Remove Windows Components and there will be the software and you can now
uninstall it.
5. For those skilled in the art of
DOS batch files, XP has a number of interesting new commands. These include 'eventcreate' and 'eventtriggers'
for creating and watching system events, 'typeperf'
for monitoring performance of various subsystems, and 'schtasks'
for handling scheduled tasks. As usual, typing the command name followed by /? will give a list of options.
6. XP has IP version 6 support -- the next generation of IP. Unfortunately this is
more than your ISP has, so you can only experiment with this on your LAN. Type
'ipv6 install' into Run... (it's OK, it won't ruin
your existing network setup) and then 'ipv6 /?' at the command line to find out
more. If you don't know what IPv6 is, don't worry.
7. You can at last get rid of tasks
on the computer from the command line by using 'taskkill
/pid' and the task number, or just 'tskill' and the process number. Find that out by typing 'tasklist', which will also tell you a lot about what's
going on in your system.
8. XP will treat Zip files like
folders, which is nice if you've got a fast machine. On slower machines, you
can make XP leave zip files alone by typing 'regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll'
at the command line. If you change your mind later, you can change things back
by typing 'regsvr32 zipfldr.dll'.
9. XP has ClearType
-- Microsoft's anti-aliasing font display technology -- but doesn't have it
enabled by default. It's well worth trying, especially if you were there for
DOS and all those years of staring at a screen have given you the eyes of an
astigmatic bat. To enable ClearType, right click on
the desktop, select Properties, Appearance, Effects, select ClearType
from the second drop-down menu and enable the selection. Expect best results on
laptop displays. If you want to use ClearType on the
Welcome login screen as well, set the registry entry
HKEY_USERS/.DEFAULT/Control Panel/Desktop/FontSmoothingType
to 2.
10. You can use Remote Assistance to
help a friend who's using network address translation (NAT) on a home network,
but not automatically. Get your pal to email you a Remote Assistance invitation
and edit the file. Under the RCTICKET attribute will be a NAT IP address, like
192.168.1.10. Replace this with your friend's real IP address -- they can find
this out by going to www.whatismyip.com -- and get
them to make sure that they've got port 3389 open on their firewall and
forwarded to the errant computer.
11. You can run a program as a
different user without logging out and back in again. Right click the icon,
select Run As... and enter the user name and password
you want to use. This only applies for that run. The trick is particularly
useful if you need to have
12. Windows XP can be very insistent
about you checking for auto updates, registering a Passport, using Windows
Messenger and so on. After a while, the nagging goes away, but if you feel you
might go insane before that point, run Regedit, go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/Advanced
and create a DWORD value called EnableBalloonTips
with a value of 0.
13. You can start up without needing
to enter a user name or password. Select Run... from the start menu and type
'control userpasswords2', which will open the user accounts application. On the
Users tab, clear the box for Users Must Enter A User Name And
Password To Use This Computer, and click on OK. An Automatically Log On
dialog box will appear; enter the user name and password for the account you
want to use.
14. Internet Explorer 6 will
automatically delete temporary files, but only if you tell it to. Start the
browser, select Tools / Internet Options... and Advanced,
go down to the Security area and check the box to Empty Temporary Internet
Files folder when browser is closed.
15. XP comes with a free Network
Activity Light, just in case you can't see the LEDs twinkle on your network card. Right click on My
Network Places on the desktop, then select Properties.
Right click on the description for your LAN or dial-up connection, select
Properties, then check the Show icon in notification area when connected box. You'll
now see a tiny network icon on the right of your task bar that glimmers nicely
during network traffic.
16. The Start Menu can be leisurely
when it decides to appear, but you can speed things along by changing the
registry entry HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Desktop/MenuShowDelay
from the default 400 to something a little snappier. Like 0.
17. You can rename loads of files at
once in Windows Explorer. Highlight a set of files in a window, then right
click on one and rename it. All the other files will be renamed to that name,
with individual numbers in brackets to distinguish them. Also, in a folder you
can arrange icons in alphabetised groups by View,
Arrange Icon By... Show In Groups.
18. Windows Media Player will
display the cover art for albums as it plays the tracks -- if it found the
picture on the Internet when you copied the tracks from the CD. If it didn't,
or if you have lots of pre-WMP music files, you can put your own copy of the
cover art in the same directory as the tracks. Just call it folder.jpg
and Windows Media Player will pick it up and display it.
19. Windows key + Break brings up
the System Properties dialogue box; Windows key + D brings up the desktop;
Windows key + Tab moves through the taskbar buttons.
20. Windows XP secretly KNOWS that the average user has no idea what they are
doing. Therefore, it doesn't let you do really stupid things like deleting the
windows directory (at least not without spending several hours convincing it
that you REALLY want to do this). Oh yeah, and internet explorer kinda sucks, get Firefox.